Saturday, July 26, 2014

It has to be the Zombies! Coming straight out of the twisted mind of Minchul Kim and the action team K-Tigers, comes this fantastic 4 minute blast of zombie killing madness! I am on a real short film tear recently and am just amazed at the quality of the films being released. Definitely the "big Studios" could learn something! From Korean Director Minchul Kim comes a 4 minute whirlwind of violent insanity, High School Of Zombie, is in the vein of Resident Evil, and features a very cute, but extremely brutal Tae-Mi she is just earth shattering vicious as the zombie killer. She is armed with a gilded Kama and knows how to wield it.The setting in High School of Zombie, is of course an actual high school. Producer/Writer/Director Minchul Kim makes great use of natural light shining through the huge windows, and also does a masterful job at color correcting for the final film. At the end of the short he split screens the action shot with the finished project, to allow views to see the original, and the difficult work with post production. More behind the scenes will be added in the coming weeks so watch on YouTube.

What can I say, I am a sucker for Zombies and all things Zombies! Makes me see RED! What else can I do except state that I am looking forward to the release of High School of Zombie, the new film from K-Tigers and Woonsa Studio. Below is all of the info, watch for more on Dan's Movie Report! Trailer @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFgCuYo-Lmc

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Bursting
on the action film scene with a role in Jackie Chan's Who Am I, Ron
Smoorenburg has carved his path to success with years of hard work and
dozens of full force action films, including the 2015 Tekken film.
Ron chats exclusively with Dan's Movie Report, directly from the
Thailand set of his upcoming film Reflex. 3-2-1- GO, another exclusive interview!

Greetings
Ron, please chat about preparations for reflex.

First
of all Danny nice to do an interview with you. If I have to describe
a preparation day for Reflex. I always meet with Dean quite early,
and we talk about what we love to do, what kind of fight moves we
love to do. We study a lot of fight scenes as well and we make our
own variations for the scene we are shooting. We put our own moves
in. We try to work it out, if things don't work out we do it again.
It has to flow, and be powerful, fast, there needs to be fire in
there. We just keep going until it is perfect, and I can tell from
Dean he is a perfectionist. We won't do the action if it is not good.

Describe
working with Dean and Daniel, and do you have a favorite scene in
Reflex.

If I
have to describe an amazing scene or experience working with Dean and
Daniel I would have to say it is all of the movie. In Reflex all of
the team on Reflex were selected and they are people with passion.
Comparing it to art, all of the people who create, do it for the art.
Dean and Daniel are very very good at optimizing the people they have
in there films, so they will make you look as good as you can, and
people feel that. When they work for Daniel and Dean they go for it,
what happens in Reflex is really some amazing moments, some magic
moments, some people call the money shots, which came out of nowhere.
The script and fights are already good, but even on top of that we
had some moments like wow, we did not expect that, because everybody
goes for it. That is a skill, and what needs to be created, and Dean
and Daniel have that.

Chat
about working with Selina Lo on Reflex, and your thoughts on action
women in films.

Selina
is perfect to work with. If you use women in a movie, of course they
need to be skillful like Selina. They have to be quite tough as well.
You have to make sure it is belivable. That is what we do in Reflex.

Shifting
to the filming location in Reflex, talk about working in Thailand and
compare it to working in Europe.

In
Thailand, the local teams work super, super hard. I almost compare it
to people from the pit stop (in a car race.) If I have a project in
Europe it feels slow, the way they set up things, do each scene,
etc.. Here in Thailand, even with the heat, it is very hot in
Thailand, they are very, very fast, and work very hard. That is what
makes Thailand interesting. For the film budget, you not only get
nice locations, and cheaper labor compared to Europe, of course, but
they also work faster. It is not 50 percent better, it is 75 percent
better. Thai people are not the type to complain quickly, they just
go for it and you don't have so many issues. You can set up your
stuff, you work good, good working ethics, and discipline, very
important. I love Thailand, really, this is the place to film, and
they have the experience with Hollywood movies being filmed here
also.

Compare
working with actors on a fight scene as opposed to trained fighters.

Good
question to compare those who have actual fighting experience, and
actors who don't have that experience. Movie fighting is action and
reaction. If the reaction part is missing, or the action part is not
good, then you only have half of the product. If the actor cannot
react right, even though you make a nice punch, then you don't look
powerful. We make the actor look good, by giving good reactions. The
actor himself cannot make you *the trained fighter) look that good.
In addition you have to be careful with the actor as well. Very good
stuntmen can go full *swings hand in punching motion) if he does not
duck, he can still adjust. Mostly is is a kind of compromise. I
recommend to train with the actors weeks before the shoot, and do
workshops. In the long run this will save the production money, these
are the things I recommend.

Chat
about your involvement in Tekken 2.

Of
course the movie is not released yet, so I cannot give to many
details about Tekken 2. I can tell you that the fight scenes will be
very sharp, good action good matches. I have some inside news already
that the fight scenes turned out great. That is an example of a
project that was very well prepared, good workshops. Amazing people
on that film, and I really look forward to Tekken 2.

Chat
about working with Jackie Chan on Who Am I, and how it has shaped
your career path since the film.

Jackie
Chan's Who Am I was my first movie and, was actually very tough, but
I think I needed that, it showed reality. The movie business is not
an easy business, and that is why not many people are in there. It
was tough, but every movie after Who Am I was relatively easy. What
I learned from Who Am I, is that I have to plan my career very
carefully. I wanted to build up my career step by step. I want to
build a good foundation, do many action movies, get the experience.
They told me, literally, if you have more experience, you can make it
very big. I took the time to do that. Between stunts and acting, I
have about 70 credits now. I have worked with Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa,
Van Damme etc... Sometimes I get beaten up, sometimes I have a nice
fight scene as well, that is what I needed. Now I think I have this
package together. I believe that is why in Reflex I had a bigger
part, bigger fight scenes, but this comes after that period. I do not
only love the end goal, but the way and path to the goal, it is
fantastic, and I enjoy it everyday.

Wrapping
up Ron, do you have a favorite moment in your film career.

It may
sound strange, but it is when I think about my training. I like being
on film sets, but when I think about epic stuff I am thinking of the
moment I was training to get to that point, the path. I was thinking
of kicking leaves in the street, putting on “Eye Of The Tiger' and
doing section kicks, with the dream to do those things as a young
man. I felt so strongly connected to that dream and reality, that I
believe in it for real and live it. Now that I am actually doing it,
I think back to when I was young doing the splits, kicks and that
kind of bridges the dream to today's reality, that is why I try to
motivate others. Life is quite precious, I look at my son and his
life power, and try to motivate others, because I feel very sad to
see talent wasted.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The
mark of a good action film is how active the main characters are. Running, fighting, falling, diving or shooting, Dean Alexandrou has
put out some of the finest independent short action films ever made.
His abilities of free running mixed with stunts and fighting are
mind blowing, and mesmerizing to behold. Dean takes a short break
from filming his new film Reflex for a short chat about the project, oh
and yes that is him on the 27th floor ledge 3-2-1- GO!

Hi
Dean how are you, where are you for the interview?

Hi
there Dan, I am on rhe 27th floor on top of a Bangkok
skyscraper with Ron Smoorenberg where we are shooting Reflex.

How
did you develop the conceptual idea for Reflex?

The
concept for Reflex arose because I love Philip K. Dick books. I love
these stories about false realities, is the world around you real.
Films like Total Recall, Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Patriot
Games, The Truman Show, Vanilla Sky, etc... These films are inspired
by Philip K. Dick stories. Of course I love action movies, and I love
Jackie Chan. It is a combination of those two.

Chat
about selecting the cast and crew for Reflex.

They
have to be enthusiastic, they have to be passionate. If, in addition
to that, I can find people that are also skillful, then that is who
I want to work with. The very, very first requirement is, that they
are nice to work with. I don't want to spend months of my life with
people that are hard to work with. I try very hard to structure this
as much like a family as I can. If you are making a family and you
can pick the people who can be in it you want people you can trust,
people that care about you, people that work hard, people that look
out for the good of the entire family. Everyone working on Reflex
fits this criteria.

Chat
about the stunt teams.

Since
I arrived in Thailand awhile ago there are two stunt teams. On reflex
I have worked with Jaika Stunts
https://www.facebook.com/jaikastuntsteam
They are both hard working teams, very skillful and very talented. I
owe them a lot, they have helped me out, and we have worked on many
projects together.

You
have worked with the talented actress/martial artist Selina Lo on
several projects, discuss what makes her special to work with.

Selina
has an amazing work ethic, an amazing attitude, and how she
approaches her work, and the way she treats people around her. Selina
is always respectful, she is genuinely kind, she is a joy to be around
and to have on a set.

One
more view from the 27th floor Dean...

Here
you go and it is a long way down! That's it, thanks for the chat.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Hard
to believe it is almost 5 years since the fantastic monster film
Prowl came out. In that film, a beautiful 19 year of Courtney Hope
burst onto the scene with her portrayal of a violent, yet protective,
feral character named Amber. Displaying seething energy and life to the violent film. Fast
forward to 2014, and Courtney has expanded her horizons, she is
currently a producer on a cool new sci-fi film called Displacement, and is
one of the stars of the new film Swelter. Courtney has great
intellect, creativity, and cool stories to tell, so enough of my
rambling, unless I want to get, my ass kicked!, Wait ,I do, haha!
Time to go inside the mind of Coutney Hope, exclusively on your home
for all things awesome, Dan's
Movie Report -3-2-1 GO!

Looking
back on that film since it has been a few years, has there been any
chatter about a sequel, a return to the "horror" looking
for Veronica?

I
know initially after the film premiered, they were throwing around
ideas of potential sequels. Now it’s just for fun, coming up with
possibilities, nothing that will actually happen though.Filming
in Bulgaria, the stark reality, did it add to the terror?It
was definitely an experience filming there. There are beautiful parts
with rolling hills, especially around Sofia where we were staying. We
filmed the second half of the film in an actual steel mill, so, yes,
it added to the reality. The surroundings were creepy in themselves,
on top of the fact we shot the whole end of the movie at night. Going
to the bathroom alone became a quest at the end of the shoot. Plus
the creatures all spoke Bulgarian and were in full make-up the whole
time… so that was terrifying.Covered
in stage blood, what was the make-up process like?Well
the make-up process surprisingly got easier and quicker. By the
end of the movie, my whole face and body was completely bloody with
so much real dirt and metal dust from the factory that we’d
accumulate throughout the day. At that point the make-up artists just
had to worry about those two factors. The question was more of what
can we do to eliminate skin tones.

Share
a weird or bizarre story from the set of 'Prowl'. perhaps a funny one
also something odd about shooting in Bulgaria.When
I got my fangs fitted, they didn’t have time to do it before we
started filming since it was so quick to production, so I ended up
having to go to a dentist there. The dentist was in someone’s
apartment in downtown Sofia, in a separate room they had made into an
office. My dad was with me at the time (since he saw “Taken”
before I left to film and decided I wasn’t going alone being a 19
year old girl... not that he has Liam Neeson skills) and I remember
sitting into the chair looking at him thinking if this turns into
some Frankenstein madness please tell everyone I love them. No one
spoke English, not even really our driver/translator, and my dad and
I just looked at each other and busted out laughing. One of those
moments that will never happen again of slight apprehension,
confusion, but more than anything, intrigue.

Quite an interesting tale in Prowl you are a Kick ass
Vampire/protector.Share some ass kicking tips, to protect someone
from the monsters in Prowl.Running,
fighting, flying. If you can master those three things you are
safe..er. ...

Yeah
Courtney, you can do all of those things, haha! Shifting gears to
Swelter,
the film is kind of in the vein of QT and Lynch. How did you get the
part of Halle? I
have worked with Keith, the director, on a few other films of his
before, and when he wrote Halle he called me up and said he had this
great part he would love me to play. I still went through the
audition process, because there are so many factors that go into a
selection of a role. I was fortunate enough to land it in the
end.

In
the film 'Swelter',
all the characters in the movie were a bit off kilter, chat about the
filming, and more about your character. Keith
is a brilliant director and writer. His stories and characters are
always a bit out of the ordinary and he loves to cast against type
which is always fun to see. Filming Swelter was a lot of fun, the
cast was so wonderful to work with. Having the opportunity to watch
and work with such brilliant actors like Lennie James, Alfred Molina,
Grant Bowler, and all the others was very inspiring and
educational. Halle
has had a hard past, and finds a peace and comfort-ability in Baker.
She has finally found acceptance and love for who she is, especially
from Ronnie. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to see their
love story develop more, but her home is that diner and she would do
anything to keep her adopted family in the town safe.

Shifting to 'Displacement',
time travel, time shifting, how did you become involved with the
production?I
worked with Ken Mader years ago when he put together a demo reel for
me when I was around 16. He wrote this script and reached out to me
about playing Cassie. I read the script and fell in love with the
story and the character. I found myself really relating to Cassie,
and I could not wait to start working on it. Ken is such a
phenomenal director, his skills are immeasurable and go way beyond
the camera. His knowledge is so inspiring, and I am very fortunate to
have had such a great experience.

Chat
a bit about your character on Displacement, background, story
etc…

Cassie
is a very complex character. She is an extremely intelligent physics
student with a lot of pressure on her from her father to live up to
her potential of being a world renowned physicist. She struggles with
this wise/intelligent persona that she feels she needs to live up to
because that is what everyone around her sees, yet she is still so
young and afraid to allow herself to make mistakes, take blame, and
potentially fail.

She has spent so long diving into her work and in a
sense neglecting the love that is surrounding her because she is so
headstrong in making her dreams come true. After losing her boyfriend
and mother, she has a major awakening to the true meaning of life and
where her priorities should lie. She fights with guilt, regret, love,
maturity, and the tic of time, as she confronts her own demons on a
mission to fix what she has broken.

Back
to
prowl, you had to display such a huge variety of emotions, chat how
you got ready for each one, fear, anger, sadness, elation. Is there a
process you went through? Has it changed today?My
process has definitely expanded. I still use a similar process now,
just with a deeper understanding. Growing as a person as well as an
artist, I understand my instrument (myself) a lot better than I did
then. Also, I was only 19 when I did Prowl, so I found myself growing
and experimenting in parallel to Amber. Sharing that same innocence
that Amber had was a blessing, there is no way I could play it the
same today.

Quite a good observation, expounding on that, chat
about feeding off other actors in a scene, in the diner scenes in
Swelter, you seemed to be reading the room, more observing, and
feeling the flow and energy. Do you feel more of a charge in a scene
with multiple characters, or the one “alone” with the camera
scenes?Having
other actors there adds a deeper element to any scene. To be able to
play off of someone, unsure of what they are going to throw at you is
a huge part of the fun. It’s always fun to me to observe what other
people do and then take my reactions and interactions from there
because that is life. You never know what is going to happen or how
you are going to say something even if you rehearse it 10 billion
times. It becomes an actors playground the more heads you put
together, so yes it is definitely more of a charge.

Actors,
Directors, people you would enjoy working with in the future?I
would hands down love to continue to work with these brilliant
directors I have had the opportunity to work with so far, because
they have so much to offer and have become a part of my family. As
far as other directors, oh there are so many: Steven Spielberg, David
Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Darren Aronofsky, Spike
Jonze, John Wells, David O. Russel, Peter Jackson.. the list goes on.
Anyone with a clearcut vision who longs to tell a character driven
story to be remembered.

Please
give a mention to the charities
you support, names, and websites.I
am supporting Saveourbeaches.org Project Mermaids charity at the
momenthttp://www.projectmermaids.com My
dreams came true being able to shoot as a mermaid underwater and at
the beach for a table book they have coming out next year. Save our
beaches supports safer ocean life and clean beaches.

I
am a part of the Paul Sorvino Asthma Foundation https://www.facebook.com/PaulSorvinoAsthmaFoundation.
I have battled asthma since I was 8, and this foundation has been
wonderful and helped me immensely. Founded by actor Paul Sorvino, his
breathing techniques are so helpful and his passion behind it is very
inspiring. I am very fortunate to be a part of such a life saving
charity.

I am also currently searching out other charities to
be involved in with children and animals. I’ve been looking into
Red Eye Inc., which I have a few friends that are members that rave
about the organization, so that may be added to the list in the near
future. I am also a huge animal lover and I find myself being drawn
in that direction, as well. I also support a few groups at my church
in Los Angeles ‘Mosaic’.Future
goals, behind the camera, see a producer credit on Displacement... more to follow?I
really am yearning to start directing. I love the producing aspect,
but ultimately directing is where I want to head. I am in the midst
of writing some treatments and moving in that direction as we speak.
In time, acting, writing, directing and editing are the four things I
want to embrace. Who knows what the future holds. I just know what I
love to do, and whatever way I can make that happen that is what I
shall do.

Thanks
for your valuable timeThank
you for reaching out, it was a pleasure speaking with you!Courtney,
thank you so much, Prowl was freaking wild, you were so convincing to watch and kind of scary in a cool way haha, and I am sure your star is
on the rise!

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